Review: I am so glad I didnt have to pay to see this movie and I had a gift card instead. This movie was terrible to say the least. I had very high expectations for this movie because I was such a huge fan of the first Anchorman. It seemed like the entire movie was just made up on the spot and filmed and there was no rehearsing at all. Im sure for a lot of people this was a highly anticipated movie and instead it was absolute crap. I have advised all of my friends to save their money for a better movie and rent it when it comes out if you must watch it. I definitely will not be buying this movie when it comes out. Very disappointed. Just do yourself a favor and go see Wolf of Wallstreet or something else. Worst Will Ferrell movie in a LONG time.

Review: The movie deserves an A for effort but misses the mark dramatically. The question is: why? The story is evocative and the cast is excellent. Where the movie goes wrong is how it presents the story. The movie attempts to inject a whimsical element in story which is out of context. There was nothing whimsical about the plan to save priceless artwork. Also, the story moves at a slow pace and inspires little if any excitement or drama. The discoveries of the hidden artwork has little dramatic impact, nor do the interpersonal relationships between the characters which in the movie are shallow. Even the attempt at romance comes off as tepid and half-hearted, as well as implausible. The idea of a young, handsome, married American officer, alone in Paris, having dinner in the apartment of an attractive, intelligent, single French woman who made him dinner and not staying for at least another drink is a stretch. True, he is married and his faithfulness is commendable, but still …. The movie does have some strong dramatic moments, but in general the story is bland. Yet despite the movies drawbacks, it still manages to tell a story about an historical event of great importance and significance, and for that reason alone is worth watching.

Review: The plot hardly matters here; its only a vehicle for exploring the dirty side of intelligence work and is complicated as a Swiss watch. Maybe the NSA revelations have you thinking twice about spywork? The fact that we caught spying on our own allies, the Germans, adds a special relevance to this tale. But the real appeal here is a)LeCarres dark, dark, dark worldview and b) Hoffmans superb acting. He just tosses this role off, and is utterly convincing. After you see this you should see the film that perfectly bookends it: LeCarres early 60s The Spy Who Came in From the Cold. Just as gritty and dirty and with Richard Burton as Alec Leamus. Like Gunther Bachmann,Leamus was a worn-out, beat-up, used-up operative, and audiences of the time, entranced by the frivolities of James Bond, were rather shocked by the dose of reality he represented.

Review: In years hence, audiences will be able to point to this film, as the moment the world knew Gugu Mbatha-Raw was going to be big. Belle is Amma Asantes feature-length directorial debut, and her work here is astonishingly confident. Tackling a period piece may seem daunting to most, but in Asantes case, she has the benefit of a top-notch cast, and a truly fascinating story. Loosely based on the story of Dido Elizabeth Belle, Dido was the daughter of an enslaved African woman and an English admiral.As the film begins, although she is born illegitimate, Didos father (Matthew Goode, Stoker) gives her over into the care of his great-uncle, William Murray, the first Earl of Mansfield (Tom Wilkinson), who acts as the Lord Chief Justice of the British courts. As she grows into a young woman, Didos life at the palatial estate of Kenwood is full of mixed blessings. While her uncle and aunt (Emily Watson, Breaking the Waves) treat her as if she were their ownthey raise her alongside their other niece, Elizabeth Murray (Sarah Gadon, A Dangerous Method)social conventions of eighteenth century society are immovable; no matter how much they love her, Dido feels the sting of being forced to eat with the servants, when company comes calling.The greatness of the film comes in its intricate plotting, and in the parallels drawn between gender and race. Author Jane Austen dealt with the position of women in English society through the use of dry humorthough the rage at a young woman being forced into marriage in order to secure a safe future was always very much present. In Belle however, there is no satire to soften the blow. As Elizabeth comes out, venturing to London in search of a husband, she points out to Belle the inherent unfairness of a system that allows women to be treated as male property. Dido doesnt necessarily have the problem of a search for a husband, as the inheritance of her fathers fortune ensures that she is financially secure; but for a radiant young woman in the prime of her life, her uncles insistence on keeping her out of sight understandably rankles her.Matters are complicated by the arrival of John Davinier (Sam Reid), the son of a local clergyman. Ambitious and wide-eyed, John wants to try to rise in station, training with Lord Mansfied to become a lawyer. His outspoken, radically abolitionist views on a notorious legal case Lord Mansfield is trying annoy the Lord considerably; but he rouses all the passionate feeling in Dido that she has been forced for so long to suppress.As Lord Mansfield, Wilkinson (Batman Begins, Michael Clayton) plays the exasperated father figure with the correct touches of humor and warmth. As a judge, he projects the inner conflicts of a man with the weight of the entire economic system on his shoulders; you can see him try to deflect from the strong-arming of local politicians, who want to ensure that the presence of the mulatto in his house will not affect his ruling on the case. As Elizabeth, Gadon takes what could have been a very stereotypical role of the flighty, romantic English girl, and brings a deep sense of hurt to it. Having been left with her uncle after her new stepmother successfully wrote her out of her fathers will, Elizabeths cheery exterior hides an emotionally hurt young girl.And finally, there is Mbatha-Raw. As Dido, the engine that drives the film, you may deeply feel her two-fold frustration as a woman, and as a person of color. You will be carried away by her passionher belief that things should not remain the same. On a more general level, the camera absolutely adores her. She moves and projects with a vitality and ease that forces one to stop at several points. Her characterization and her performance are so accomplished, that her independent-minded heroine could stand toe-to-toe with the multiple incarnations of Jane Austens Elizabeth Bennett. If Belle is any indication, and if there is any fairness in this world, there should be more great things to come from her.-…